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Indeed, one can hope we'll some day be able to get everything working out-of-the-box, though let's be realistic here.
Also, given all the codecs and third party stuff one has to cram in their box... What exactly is "basic media functionality"?

I'm not sure whether the switchable graphics option would work but maybe it's working (in theory) nowadays?

Is there any way to fix this problem? Perhaps, the xorg config file has to be created or edited? I didn't think one had to do this STILL but whenever the laptop lid goes down, it DOES WORK more than half the time. It's strange, too. The first time, it seemed to work as the screen would materialize and I'd get the log-in screen. But, try it again and the laptop screen goes blank and the 'sleep' LED continues to blink forever.

This laptop is how many years old? Sorry, I think this is crazy that this *isn't* JUST WORKING. I don't know if the experience would be any different with any other distro but the OS is Debian Wheezy using Gnome3. Although, Mint and LMDE has been tested using the default and KDE desktop, respectfully. No difference. Same experience.

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If you want to use fglrx you need to use the 12-6 legacy, it is in experimental. Thats clear or not? I would just disable it and set it to intel and forget about that crap.

It's clear but the Intel card was enabled previously in the BIOS with no real difference. I did check Synaptic and both the Intel and radeon driver is enabled, I believe. Should one be 'uninstalled or something?" I didn't think it would be a factor as it should detect which one it can use (which is enabled in the BIOS?)?

I've googled but haven't found any real solution or anything up-to-date.

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"Crashes, graphic corruption and really slow" is *slightly* more specific. Would be better with a list including affected program, distro, graphics card, fglrx version etc.
As for the blame-game, I actually am of a different opinion: I see no reason why AMD should pour man-hours into their drivers to fix someone else's mess. They already have their hands full. And if anyone has issues with the OpenGL specs (too complex, obscure and what not), they should take them to the Khronos group, not AMD.
Now before I get jumped: there are most probably bugs in fglrx, like in any piece of software, especially of that complexity. BUT I really find people's habit of jumping to conclusions on how every problem has to be caused by fglrx "because it works with XYZ" totally disingenuous. Which is what that Slashdot entry is about.

Let me give you a car analogy.

Let’s say you work at a taxi company. This company buys their cars from three different brands; Intel, Nvidia and AMD, and when you get to work you are assigned a car from one of these brands.

The Intel cars are not very fast but they are cheap and don’t use much gas. Intel is also open about how they work so the company’s mechanics can fix any problems that arise. From experience you know that they are reliable.

The Nvidia cars are expensive and fast. Nvidia has obfuscated their design so you can’t fix them yourself but Nvidia’s mechanics does regular maintenance work on the cars so this isn’t a problem mostly. These cars tend to be reliable too.

But sometimes you are assigned a car from AMD. These cars are expensive and are supposed to be fast like the Nvidia cars but from experience you know that their performance can be very unreliable. Sometimes they are even slower than the Intel cars. They also have frequent problems. Sometimes the engine just stops, sometimes the transmission breaks down, sometimes the electrical system fries. In fact you can’t remember ever using an AMD car without having problems. AMD’s mechanics does do maintenance work on the cars but they usually end up having the same problems again and again.

After working there for a few years and talking to other taxi drivers with similar experiences you have come to the conclusion that AMD cars suck. But when you go online to talk about it on car forums you are told that AMD cars does not suck because they follow some specifications better than Nvidia and Intel (that you, as an end user, know nothing about). And then you’re told that the roads around here aren’t good enough and you need higher quality gas that doesn't seem to be avilable anywhere (the other brands doesn't seem to have any problems with this however).

Would that make you change your mind on AMD cars? I certainly wouldn't.

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The Intel cars are not very fast but they are cheap and donít use much gas. Intel is also open about how they work so the companyís mechanics can fix any problems that arise. From experience you know that they are reliable.

Exept a lot of laptops with Intel GMA3600 (there is semi-broken EGL/GLES-only driver) and still not fixed tearing issues on SB and IB.

And to sum it up, reviews are often paid for by one of them. So pick your poison.

nVidia don't need to pay, they just provide Right List Of Games (For Right Review Results) with early hardware samples. So journalists have no choice but use nVidia's games list in review otherwise they doesn't get early hardware samples. As simple as that.

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And then youíre told that the roads around here arenít good enough and you need higher quality gas that doesn't seem to be avilable anywhere (the other brands doesn't seem to have any problems with this however).

That's where the analogy is flawed. It's more like a bunch of people, who come up with characteristics on how the roads should be built and what chemical composition gas should have, decided one thing to accomodate sedans. AMD builds sedans based on that, but road constructors and gas refiners seem to be content with looser qualities because historically people have used nvidias diesel SUVs. And drivers complain about how sedans are junk.

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That's where the analogy is flawed. It's more like a bunch of people, who come up with characteristics on how the roads should be built and what chemical composition gas should have, decided one thing to accomodate sedans. AMD builds sedans based on that, but road constructors and gas refiners seem to be content with looser qualities because historically people have used nvidias diesel SUVs. And drivers complain about how sedans are junk.

I think you missunderstood the point of my analogy. The point is that the average user does not care about whatever the reason a company's products has constant issues. So what if the roads and gas are made for different specifications? It doesn't matter! From the user perspective the cars from that company suck because they have issues being used with the roads and gas that's available now.